Methods and apparatus to implement cloud specific functionality in a cloud agnostic system

ABSTRACT

Methods, apparatus, systems and articles of manufacture are disclosed that implement cloud functionality in a cloud agnostic system. An example apparatus includes: at least one memory; instructions in the apparatus; and processor circuitry to execute the instructions to: generate a blueprint including components of requested cloud resources and their relationships; provide an allocation flag to the blueprint, the allocation flag indicating the requested cloud resources are to be partially provisioned; transmit a first provisioning request to a cloud management platform, the cloud management platform to manage a plurality of cloud resources; and in response to the cloud management platform selecting cloud resources, transmit a second provisioning request to fully provision the selected cloud resources, the second provisioning request including constraints specific to the selected cloud resources.

RELATED APPLICATION

This patent arises from a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 16/459,214, (now U.S. Pat. No. 11,082,295) which was filed on Jul.1, 2019. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/459,214 is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Priority to U.S.patent application Ser. No. 16/459,214 is hereby claimed.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

This disclosure relates generally to cloud management systems, and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to implement cloud specificfunctionality in a cloud agnostic system.

BACKGROUND

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”)generally describes a suite of technologies provided by a serviceprovider as an integrated solution to allow for elastic creation of avirtualized, networked, and pooled computing platform (sometimesreferred to as a “cloud computing platform”). Enterprises may use IaaSas a business-internal organizational cloud computing platform(sometimes referred to as a “private cloud”) that gives an applicationdeveloper access to infrastructure resources, such as virtualizedservers, storage, and networking resources. By providing ready access tothe hardware resources required to run an application, the cloudcomputing platform enables developers to build, deploy, and manage thelifecycle of a web application (or any other type of networkedapplication) at a greater scale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may include many processing units (e.g.,servers). Other components of a cloud computing environment includestorage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc. Current cloudcomputing environment configuration relies on much manual user input andconfiguration to install, configure, and deploy the components of thecloud computing environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram illustrating typical communication among auser device, a cloud management platform, and a cloud resource.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a network including an example user device,an example cloud management platform, an example cloud resources.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the example allocation generatorof FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the example cloud managementplatform of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an example sequence diagram illustrating communication amongthe user device, the cloud management platform, and the cloud resourcesof FIG. 2 in a cloud agnostic system.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the resource allocator ofFIGS. 2 and/or 3.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the cloud managementplatform of FIGS. 2 and/or 4.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example processor platform structured toexecute the instructions of FIG. 6 to implement the applicationgenerator of FIG. 3.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processor platform structured toexecute the instructions of FIG. 7 to implement the cloud managementplatform of FIG. 4.

The figures are not to scale. In general, the same reference numberswill be used throughout the drawing(s) and accompanying writtendescription to refer to the same or like parts.

Descriptors “first,” “second,” “third,” etc. are used herein whenidentifying multiple elements or components which may be referred toseparately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on theircontext of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaningof priority, physical order or arrangement in a list, or ordering intime but are merely used as labels for referring to multiple elements orcomponents separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples.In some examples, the descriptor “first” may be used to refer to anelement in the detailed description, while the same element may bereferred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as “second” or“third.” In such instances, it should be understood that suchdescriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements orcomponents. Connection references (e.g., attached, coupled, connected,and joined) are to be construed broadly and may include intermediatemembers between a collection of elements and relative movement betweenelements unless otherwise indicated. As such, connection references donot necessarily infer that two elements are directly connected and infixed relation to each other. Stating that any part is in “contact” withanother part means that there is no intermediate part between the twoparts.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Virtualization technologies can be used for computing, storage, and/ornetworking, for example. Using virtualization, hardware computingresources and/or other physical resources can be replicated in software.One or more application programming interfaces (APIs) can be implementedto provide access to virtualized resources for users, applications,and/or systems while limiting or masking underlying software and/orhardware structure.

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resourcesacross a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtualresources, and provisioning the virtual resources to perform cloudcomputing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizingcomputer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REALMACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485,which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Certain examples provide multi-cloud management systems and/or platformsthat manage a combination of public and private clouds (e.g., a hybridcloud environment) running a variety of computing processes fromtraditional processes to virtual machines to container (e.g., cloudnative) workloads. An example multi-cloud management platform canprovision infrastructure and application resources with a choice ofconsumption (e.g., application programming interface (API), Catalog,command line interface (CLI), etc.) based on pre-defined policies andpermissions. Provisioning and maintenance of resources are automatedthrough creation of blueprints (e.g., models) that include components ofrequested services along with their relationships, including a mix of VMand container-based services. Integration can be extended to third partyand/or customer applications, tools, etc.

In a virtual infrastructure, such as a multi-cloud management platform,an endpoint is a system and/or a service on which a user can provisionresources. The endpoint may be a public cloud resource (e.g., a webservice such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), etc.), a virtual appliance(e.g., an external orchestrator appliance, etc.), a private cloud (e.g.,hosted by VMware vSphere™, Microsoft Hyper-V™, etc.), etc. For example,a service has an endpoint that provides a specific function or featureof that service. The service may have multiple endpoints. For example, acatalog service provides catalog features via an endpoint for ashell/user interface application service to consume. Endpoints caninclude physical endpoints, virtual endpoints, Internet Protocol AddressManagement (IPAM) endpoints, etc. An endpoint type defines a set of oneor more methods/functions that can be invoked, and an endpoint orendpoint instance is the object that implements or provides access tothe methods/functions. An endpoint adapter enables the endpoint and themanagement system to communicate with each other. The endpoint adaptercan facilitate/enable data/instruction communication, security, accesscontrol, redundancy, auditing, etc. If properly registered, aninfrastructure-driven workflow can be launched for the endpoint via theendpoint adapter, for example.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities forperforming computing operations. Often, provisioned resources areconfigured during provisioning of infrastructure. Such configuration isoften specific to the intended public cloud resource, private cloudresource, IaaS provider, and/or any suitable cloud resource. It is hardto implement such a configuration when using a provisioning platformthat is cloud agnostic, as it is not known where the resource will beplaced before the actual provisioning happens (e.g., the selected publicand/or private cloud is not known). In examples disclosed herein, acloud agnostic system is a system that manages more than one type ofcloud (e.g., AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Compute Platform (GCP), VMwarevSphere) and places the requested workloads and/or provisions therequests based on a set of rules. For example, the set of rules may bebased on constraints such as desired cost, desired memory allocation,desired load size, etc.

FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram illustrating typical communication among auser device, a cloud management platform, and a cloud resource.Illustrated in FIG. 1, during the first communication 102, the userdevice 101 initiates a request to provision a resource on the cloudresource(s) 105. Moreover, during the second communication 104, the userdevice 101 communicates the request to provision to a resource on thecloud resource(s) 105 to a cloud management platform 103. Typically, therequest to provision a resource provided by the user device 101 includesdetails on the blueprint that specify the desired resource to beprovisioned and/or resource configurations (e.g., allocation of memory,cost constraints, number of hard disks, number of central processingunits (CPUs), etc.). During a third communication 106, the cloudmanagement platform 103 decides, based on a set of rules and/or theobtained blueprint, the cloud resource(s) 105 to be utilized. Inresponse, the cloud management platform 103 provides a request to thecloud resource(s) 105 in order to provision a resource on the cloudresource(s) 105 during the fourth communication 108. In someimplementations, the cloud management platform 103 may execute a seriesof requests to the cloud resource(s) 105 in order to provision aresource on the cloud resource(s) 105. Having obtained the requests fromthe cloud management platform 103, the cloud resource(s) 105 thenprovisions the resource during the fifth communication 110. Onceprovisioned, the cloud resource(s) 105 communicate(s) with the cloudmanagement platform 103 to indicate the resource has been provisionedduring the sixth communication 112. In addition, the cloud managementplatform 103 communicates with the user device 101 that the resource hasbeen provisioned during the seventh communication 114.

With regards to the sequence illustrated in FIG. 1, if the cloudresource(s) 105 is/are a part of a cloud agnostic system, the user doesnot know the cloud resource(s) 105 that is/are to be selected.Therefore, the details included on the blueprint that specify thedesired cloud computing resource(s) 105 and/or constraints to beprovisioned (e.g., during the third communication 106) may be incorrectand/or incompatible with the selected cloud resource. For example, theuser may initiate a standard blueprint including an image specific to anAmazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. If the cloud management platform 103selects a Microsoft Azure cloud and/or a Google Compute Platform (GCP),the resource provisioning will fail.

Examples disclosed herein create an integrated system that allows a userto provision any public and/or private cloud, virtual machine, etc., ina cloud agnostic system. Furthermore, examples disclosed herein allowfor custom cloud provisioning on a cloud agnostic system. For example, auser is able to provision a cloud not known prior to the provisioningrequest.

In examples disclosed herein, when a user provides a provisioningrequest to a cloud management platform, the user indicates theprovisioning request to be a dual-phase provisioning request. Forexample, the user may indicate the provisioning is for allocation onlyand, as such, the cloud computing platform allocates the desiredresource (e.g., saves a spot) on the selected public and/or privatecloud, virtual machine, etc. Examples disclosed herein implement afeature as a part of the provisioning request in the form of a customproperty on the provisioning request blueprint. In examples disclosedherein, the custom property may be an allocation flag indicating toallocate only.

Examples disclosed herein allow a user to provide cloud specific data(e.g., constraints, input commands, and/or blueprint images specific tothe selected public and/or private cloud, virtual machine, etc.) inresponse to the allocation of the provision request by the cloudmanagement platform. For example, in a cloud agnostic system, the usermay hold off on providing AWS specific image data (e.g., constraints,input commands, and/or blueprint images specific to an AWS cloud) unlessthe selected public and/or private cloud resource is detected to be anAWS cloud. In examples disclosed herein, the second phase (e.g., whenthe user provides cloud specific image data) may not include anallocation indication.

In examples disclosed herein, a user may decide to provision a machine(e.g., transmit a provisioning request to a cloud management platform)via a user interface (UI) on the user device. Furthermore, in suchexamples disclosed herein, a user may provide cloud specific data (e.g.,constraints, input commands, and/or blueprint images specific to theselected public and/or private cloud, virtual machine, etc.) by editingparameters of the blueprint (e.g., image parameters) via an applicationprogramming interface (API) on the user device.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of a network 200 including an example userdevice 202, an example cloud management platform 206, an example cloudresources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. In the example of FIG. 2, the user device202 includes an example allocation generator 204.

In the example of FIG. 2, the user device 202 communicates with thecloud management platform 206 via wireless communication. As such, theuser device 202 provides an example provisioning request 203 to thecloud management platform 206 in response to a user initiating theprovisioning request 203. In other examples disclosed herein, the userdevice 202 may provide the provisioning request to the cloud managementplatform 206 via wired communication, satellite communication, and/orany suitable communication method. In the illustration of FIG. 2, theuser device 202 is a personal computer (PC). Additionally oralternatively, the user device 202 may be any device controllable,programmable, and/or structured to transmit the provisioning request 203to the cloud management platform 206. For example, the user device 202may be a virtual computer and/or any suitable software, hardware,firmware, and/or any combination of software, hardware, and/or firmwaredevice to transmit the provisioning request 203 to the cloud managementplatform 206.

In FIG. 2, the provisioning request 203 initiated by the user includesprovisioning details for the cloud management platform 206. In examplesdisclosed herein, the provisioning request may include an exampleallocation flag 205 operable in response to the allocation generator 204determining the provisioning request is a preliminary request (e.g., forallocation only). Alternatively, the provisioning request 203 may betransmitted to the cloud management platform 206 without the allocationflag 205. For example, if the user device 202 has access to the selectedcloud resource of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g., anindication is sent by the cloud management platform 206 and thus, theuser device 202 determines the selected cloud resource of the cloudresources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c) that is to be provisioned, theprovisioning request 203 sent to the cloud management platform 206 maythen contain constraints and/or parameters specific to the selectedcloud resource (e.g., any of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c)and thus, no allocation flag 205 is included. In such examples disclosedherein, the allocation flag 205 may or may not be included in responseto a determination and/or placement by the allocation generator 204. Inanother example, the provisioning request 203 may not include anallocation flag 205 and, thus, the cloud management platform 206 may, inview of communication with the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c maydetermine that the provisioning request 203 is for allocation only. Suchexamples disclosed herein are explained in further detail below, inconnection with the cloud management platform 206 and FIG. 4.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the allocation generator 204communicates with the user device 202 to determine whether theallocation flag 205 is to be included in the provisioning request 203.For example, the user may indicate when initiating the provisioningrequest 203 that the provisioning request 203 is for allocation only.Such an indication may be provided via an image on a blueprint file ofthe provisioning request 203. As such, the allocation generator 204interprets the image on the blueprint file of the provisioning request203 and determines whether to set the allocation flag 205.

In addition, the user device 202 and/or the allocation generator 204observe an example infrastructure response 207 from the cloud managementplatform 206. In response to the first phase of provisioning (e.g., inresponse to the provisioning request 203 including the allocation flag205), the infrastructure response 207 from the cloud management platform206 indicates the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c. As such, the infrastructure response 207 contains an exampleindicator 209 including custom constraints of the selected one(s) of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. Alternatively, the infrastructureresponse 207 may contain the indicator 209 in which the indicator 209includes a failure warning and/or any response indication theunsuccessful cloud resource selection.

Additionally, the user device 202 communicates with the cloud managementplatform 206 to obtain an example provisioning response 215. Theprovisioning response 215 from the cloud management platform 206indicates whether the full provisioning of one of the cloud resources208 a, 208 b, 208 c is successful. As such, if the full provisioning issuccessful, the provisioning response 215 indicates information relatingto the full provisioning and continued use of the provisioned cloudresource (e.g., one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c).Alternatively, if the full provisioning is unsuccessful, theprovisioning response 215 indicates a failure warning and/or anyresponse indication the unsuccessful full provisioning.

In FIG. 2, the cloud management platform 206 communicates with the userdevice 202 and the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. In the exampleof FIG. 2, the cloud management platform 206 determines whether theprovisioning request 203 includes the allocation flag 205. Additionally,the cloud management platform 206 determines the selected cloudresource(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c that is to beutilized based on the content of the provisioning request 203 (e.g., thedesired memory, cost constraints, etc.) and a set of specified rules(e.g., operating time, available load capacity, etc.). In some examplesdisclosed herein, the cloud management platform 206 may determine theselected cloud resource from the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c atany point in time with respect to obtaining the provisioning request 203(e.g., before interpreting the allocation flag 205, before obtaining theprovisioning request 203, etc.). The cloud management platform 206analyzes the provisioning request 203 to determine whether theallocation flag 205 is present. Additionally or alternatively, the cloudmanagement platform 206 may independently set an allocation flag (e.g.,perform a similar task as the allocation generator 204). For example, incloud agnostic systems, the cloud management platform 206 may include arespective allocation generator to indicate partial provisioning (e.g.,allocation only) of the provisioning request 203.

The cloud management platform 206 may transmit and/or otherwise send theresource request 211 to the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. Forexample, the cloud management platform 206 transmits the resourcerequest 211 to a single one (e.g., the selected cloud resource) of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c in response to obtaining aprovisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203) includingcloud specific data.

In some examples disclosed herein, the resource request 211 is a requestto partially provision the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a,208 b, 208 c. For example, if the provisioning request 203 from the userdevice 202 includes the allocation flag 205, then the cloud managementplatform 206 transmits and/or otherwise sends the resource request 211as a partial provision request (e.g., reserve resource space in theselected cloud resource). In yet another example, the cloud managementplatform 206 may determine to flag the provisioning request 203 based onthe cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c being in a cloud agnosticsystem.

Alternatively, the resource request 211 may be a request to fullyprovision the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208c. For example, if the provisioning request 203 from the user device 202does not include the allocation flag 205, then the cloud managementplatform 206 transmits and/or otherwise sends the resource request 211as a full provision request.

In addition, the cloud management platform 206 communicates with thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c to obtain a resource response 213.The resource response is explained in further detail below, inconnection with the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c may be any of a public cloud resource (e.g., a web service such asAmazon Web Services (AWS), etc.), a virtual appliance (e.g., an externalorchestrator appliance, etc.), a private cloud (e.g., hosted by VMwarevSphere™, Microsoft Hyper-V™, etc.), etc. In FIG. 2, one or more of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c communicate with the cloudmanagement platform 206 to execute the resource request 211. If theresource request 211 includes an allocation flag (e.g., the allocationflag 205), then the one or more cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 ccommunicate to the cloud management platform 206 the resource response213 having been partially provisioned. Alternatively, if the resourcerequest 211 does not include an allocation flag (e.g., the allocationflag 205), then the one or more cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 ccommunicate to the cloud management platform 206 the resource response213 having been fully provisioned.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating the example allocation generator204 of FIG. 2. The allocation generator 204 includes an exampleinterface 302, an example request generator 304, and an example flagapplicator 306. In FIG. 3, the interface 302, the request generator 304,and the flag applicator 306, communicate via an example communicationbus 301.

In the example of FIG. 3, the interface 302 interacts with, communicateswith, and/or otherwise obtains an initial request from the user device202. In such examples, the user device 202 of FIG. 2 can interact withthe allocation generator 204 via the interface 302 to register and/oraccess the provisioning request 203. For example, the user device 202may interact with the interface 302 to provoke instantiation of theprovisioning request 203 and/or indicate the allocation preference ofthe provisioning request 203 (e.g., to be fully provisioned or partiallyprovisioned). Moreover, the interface 302 communicates with the requestgenerator 304 and/or the flag applicator 306 via the communication busto transmit and/or otherwise send the initial request from the userdevice 202. Additionally, the interface 302 may obtain cloud resourcespecific data and/or constraints from the request generator 304 and/orthe flag applicator 306 to update the provisioning request 203 inresponse to cloud management platform 206 identifying the selectedone(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g., in response tothe infrastructure response 207).

In FIG. 3, the request generator 304 generates the provisioning request203 for the cloud management platform 206. Additionally, the requestgenerator 304 communicates with the flag applicator 306, via thecommunication bus 301, to determine whether to apply the allocation flag205 to the provisioning request 203. In such an example, if the flagapplicator 306 indicates to partially provision (e.g., to apply theallocation flag 205 to the provisioning request 203), then the requestgenerator may insert the allocation flag 205 into the provisioningrequest 203. In examples disclosed herein, the allocation flag 205 maybe inserted into the provisioning request 203 via an additional image onthe blueprint file associated with the provisioning request 203.Additionally or alternatively, the request generator 304 may provideupdated request constraints (e.g., cloud resource specific constraintsand/or images) in response to the cloud management platform 206identifying the selected cloud resource(s) from the cloud resources 208a, 208 b, 208 c. For example, the user device 202 may indicateadditional cloud specific constraints (e.g., constraints specific to anAWS cloud if an AWS cloud is selected by the cloud management platform206) in response to the infrastructure response 207.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, the flag applicator 306communicates with the user device 202 to determine whether theallocation flag 205 is to be included on the provisioning request 203.For example, if the user device 202 indicates to allocate only (e.g.,indicates to allocate only via a specific image on the provisioningrequest 203 blueprint), then the flag applicator 306 communicates withthe request generator 304 to include the allocation flag 205.Additionally, the flag applicator 306 communicates with the cloudmanagement platform 206 and, more specifically, the infrastructureresponse 207 to determine whether to remove the allocation flag 205 in asubsequent provisioning request (e.g., a second phase of theprovisioning request 203). In another example, the user device 202 mayindicate to the flag applicator 306 to remove the allocation flag 205via removing the image from the blueprint file.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating the example cloud managementplatform 206 of FIG. 2. The cloud management platform 206 includes anexample user interface 402, an example request interpreter 404, anexample provision determiner 406, an example request applicator 408, andan example cloud interface 410. In FIG. 4, the user interface 402, therequest interpreter 404, the provision determiner 406, the requestapplicator 408, and/or the cloud interface 410 may communicate via anexample cloud management communication bus 401.

In the example of FIG. 4, the user interface 402 interacts with,communicates with, and/or otherwise obtains the provisioning request 203from the user device 202. The user interface 402 determines whether theprovisioning request 203 includes the allocation flag 205. In responseto the determination, the user interface 402 communicates with any ofthe request interpreter 404, the provision determiner 406, the requestapplicator 408, and/or the cloud interface 410. In another exampledisclosed herein, the user interface 402 provides the infrastructureresponse 207 to the user device.

In FIG. 4, the request interpreter 404 obtains the provisioning request203 from the user interface. In examples disclosed herein, the requestinterpreter 404 interprets the provisioning request 203 to extract theprovisioning details and content of the provisioning request 203. Forexample, the request interpreter 404 determines, based on the content ofthe provisioning request 203, the specified memory allocation size, thedesired cost, whether the allocation flag 205 is present, and/or anysuitable constraint and/or image in the provisioning request 203blueprint file.

In one example, the request interpreter 404 can determine that andallocation flag 205 should have been applied by analyzing theconstraints and/or images in the provisioning request 203 blueprintfile. For example, if the provisioning request 203 does not include anallocation flag 205, and the provisioning request is incomplete (e.g.,critical components are missing), then the request interpreter 404 candetermine that an allocation flag (e.g., the allocation flag 205) is tobe applied. In examples disclosed herein, the request interpreter 404communicates the provisioning request 203 details to any of the userinterface 402, the provision determiner 406, the request applicator 408,and/or the cloud interface 410.

In FIG. 4, the provision determiner 406 communicates with any of theuser interface 402, the request interpreter 404, the request applicator408, and/or the cloud interface 410 to determine the selected one(s) ofthe cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. For example, the provisiondeterminer 406 utilizes the available constraints from the provisioningrequest 203 (e.g., the desired cost, total memory allocation, etc.) toselect the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.In another example, the provision determiner 406 communicates with thecloud interface 410 to determine, of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c, the cloud resource best suited for the provisioning request 203.If the provisioning request 203 prompts for 2 gigabytes of memoryallocation, then the provision determiner 406 may utilize any of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c that can provide 2 gigabytes ofmemory allocation. In another example, the provision determiner 406 mayutilize any plurality of rules and/or constraints in conjunction toselect the best cloud resource of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208c. For example, if two of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g.,the cloud resources 208 a and 208 b) can satisfy the total costconstraint (e.g., are priced within the users cost limit) and one ofcloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g., the cloud resource 208 b) cansatisfy the desired memory allocation constraint (e.g., the cloudresource 208 b has unused memory to allocate for the resource request211), then the provision determiner 406 selects the cloud resource 208 bas the selected one of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. In suchan example, the selected resource (e.g., the cloud resource 208 b) ispartially provisioned and the indication of the selected resource (e.g.,the cloud resource 208 b) and/or any unsatisfied constraints specific tothe selected resource (e.g., the cloud resource 208 b) are included inthe resource response 213.

In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the request applicator 408communicates with the user interface 402 to generate and/or otherwisecause the user interface 402 to transmit the infrastructure response 207to the user device 202. In such an example, the infrastructure response207 includes the selected cloud resource(s) of the cloud resources 208a, 208 b, 208 c and the requested constraints.

Furthermore, the request applicator 408 communicates with the requestinterpreter 404 to generate and/or otherwise transmit the resourcerequest 211 to the user interface 402, the request interpreter 404, theprovision determiner 406, and/or the cloud interface 410. In examplesdisclosed herein, the resource request 211 may be a request to partiallyprovision the selected cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.Alternatively, in some examples disclosed herein, the request applicator408 generates the resource request 211 in response to the user device202 transmitting the provisioning request 203 including the selectedcloud resource data. In examples disclosed herein, the resource request211 may indicate whether to partially or fully provision the selectedone(s) of the cloud resource(s) 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.

The request applicator 408 may generate the resource request 211 afterthe provision determiner 406 determines the available cloud resource(s)of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c and after the infrastructureresponse 207 is sent. In such an example, the resource request 211 mayindicate to partially provision the selected cloud resource of the cloudresources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.

Alternatively, the request applicator 408 may determine that theprovisioning request 203 includes a satisfactory blueprint based oncontent of the provisioning request 203, and in response to theprovisioning request 203 including a satisfactory blueprint and theprovisioning request 203 not indicating to partially provision, generatethe resource request 211 indicating to fully provision the selectedcloud resource of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g., becausethe provisioning request 203 includes a satisfactory blueprint includingcontent to fully provision and there is no allocation flag 205 presentin the provisioning request). In other examples disclosed herein, therequest applicator 408 may determine that the provisioning request 203does not include a satisfactory blueprint based on content of theprovisioning request 203, and generate the resource request 211indicating to partially provision the selected cloud resource of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c (e.g., because the provisioningrequest 203 does not include a satisfactory blueprint). In any exampledisclosed herein, a request to partially provision a selected one(s) ofthe cloud resource(s) 208 a, 208 b, 208 c may be utilized to bothdetermine the selected one(s) of the cloud resource(s) 208 a, 208 b, 208c and/or reserve memory, processing resources, etc., on the selectedone(s) of the cloud resource(s) 208 a, 208 b, 208 c for use at a latertime. Such a later time may be determined when the provisioning request203 includes a satisfactory blueprint and/or no allocation flag 205. Assuch, the selected one(s) of the cloud resource(s) 208 a, 208 b, 208 care to be fully provisioned.

In FIG. 4, the cloud interface 410 provides a communication abstractionlayer by which the cloud management platform 206 may communicate withthe cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. As such, the cloud interface410 can communicate the resource request 211 to the selected one(s) ofthe cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c. In examples disclosed herein,the cloud interface 410 operates in response to the provision determiner406 determining the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c and the user device 202 identifying the cloud specific data (e.g.,identifying the cloud specific data in view of the infrastructureresponse 207). Additionally, the cloud interface 410 communicates withthe cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c to obtain the resource response213 from the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.As such, the cloud interface 410 communicates with any of the userinterface 402, the request interpreter 404, the provision determiner406, and/or the request applicator 408 to provide and/or obtain theresource request 211 and/or the resource response 213 to and/or from theselected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c.

FIG. 5 is an example sequence diagram illustrating communication amongthe user device 202, the cloud management platform 206, and the cloudresources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c of FIG. 2 in a cloud agnostic system.

Illustrated in FIG. 5, during an example first communication 502, theuser device 202 prepares and creates a provisioning request (e.g., theprovisioning request 203 of FIG. 2). In addition, the user device 202or, more specifically, the allocation generator 204 generates and/orotherwise provides an allocation flag to the provisioning request (e.g.,provides the allocation flag 205 to the provisioning request 203) duringan example second communication 504. In response to the secondcommunication 504, the user device 202 transmits and/or otherwiseprovides the provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203)to the cloud management platform 206 during an example thirdcommunication 506.

During an example fourth communication 508, the cloud managementplatform performs placement logic (e.g., determines the selected cloudresource of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c). Once the selectedcloud resource is determined, the cloud management platform 206transmits an infrastructure response (e.g., the infrastructure response207) to the user device 202 during an example fifth communication 510.Additionally, in examples disclosed herein, the cloud managementplatform 206 may transmit a partial provisioning request (e.g., theresource request 211) to the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208a, 208 b, 208 c after the fourth communication 508 and before the fifthcommunication 510. Such an additional example communication reservesand/or otherwise allocates the provisioning space in the selected one(s)of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c while the user device 202interacts with the fifth communication 510.

In response, the user device 202 provides and/or otherwise generates aprovisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203) without anallocation flag (e.g., the allocation flag 205) and with the cloudspecific constraints during an example sixth communication 512. Duringan example seventh communication 514, the user device 202 communicatesthe updated provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203without the allocation flag 205 and with the cloud specific constraints)to the cloud management platform 206. Additionally or alternatively, insome examples disclosed herein, the cloud management platform 206 maygenerate an identifier to be included in the fifth communication 510.Further in such examples disclosed herein, the user device 202 mayinclude the identifier in the seventh communication 514 to distinguishthe updated provisioning request sent in the seventh communication 514(e.g., the provisioning request 203 without the allocation flag 205 andwith the cloud specific constraints) from the provisioning request sentin the third communication 506 (e.g., the provisioning request 203 withthe allocation flag 205).

The cloud management platform 206, after creating the resource request(e.g., the resource request 211), transmits the corresponding resourcerequest (e.g., the resource request 211) to the selected one(s) of thecloud resources 208 a, 208 b, 208 c during an example eighthcommunication 516.

In response, the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c fully provision based on the resource request (e.g., the resourcerequest 211) during an example ninth communication 518. Onceprovisioned, the selected one(s) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208 b,208 c communicate with the cloud management platform 206 to indicate theresource has been provisioned during an example tenth communication 520(e.g., the resource response 213). In addition, the cloud managementplatform 206 communicates with the user device 202 that the resource hasbeen provisioned during an example eleventh communication 522 (e.g., theprovisioning response 215).

While an example manner of implementing the allocation generator 204 ofFIG. 2 is illustrated in FIG. 3, one or more of the elements, processesand/or devices illustrated in FIG. 3 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example interface 302, the example request generator 304,the example flag applicator 306 and/or, more generally, the exampleallocation generator 204 of FIG. 2 may be implemented by hardware,software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. Thus, for example, any of the example interface 302, theexample request generator 304, the example flag applicator 306 and/or,more generally, the example allocation generator 204 could beimplemented by one or more analog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits,programmable processor(s), programmable controller(s), graphicsprocessing unit(s) (GPU(s)), digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)),application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logicdevice(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent tocover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one ofthe example interface 302, the example request generator 304, and/or theexample flag applicator 306 is/are hereby expressly defined to include anon-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such asa memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-raydisk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, theexample allocation generator 204 of FIG. 2 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 3, and/or may include more than one of any or all ofthe illustrated elements, processes and devices. As used herein, thephrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompassesdirect communication and/or indirect communication through one or moreintermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g.,wired) communication and/or constant communication, but ratheradditionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals,scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events.

A flowchart representative of example hardware logic, machine readableinstructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or anycombination thereof for implementing the allocation generator 204 ofFIG. 3 is shown in FIG. 6. The machine readable instructions may be oneor more executable programs or portion(s) of an executable program forexecution by a computer processor such as the processor 812 shown in theexample processor platform 800 discussed below in connection with FIG.8. The program may be embodied in software stored on a non-transitorycomputer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a harddrive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associated with the processor812, but the entire program and/or parts thereof could alternatively beexecuted by a device other than the processor 812 and/or embodied infirmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although the example program isdescribed with reference to the flowchart illustrated in FIG. 6, manyother methods of implementing the example allocation generator 204 mayalternatively be used. For example, the order of execution of the blocksmay be changed, and/or some of the blocks described may be changed,eliminated, or combined. Additionally or alternatively, any or all ofthe blocks may be implemented by one or more hardware circuits (e.g.,discrete and/or integrated analog and/or digital circuitry, an FPGA, anASIC, a comparator, an operational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit,etc.) structured to perform the corresponding operation withoutexecuting software or firmware.

The machine readable instructions described herein may be stored in oneor more of a compressed format, an encrypted format, a fragmentedformat, a packaged format, etc. Machine readable instructions asdescribed herein may be stored as data (e.g., portions of instructions,code, representations of code, etc.) that may be utilized to create,manufacture, and/or produce machine executable instructions. Forexample, the machine readable instructions may be fragmented and storedon one or more storage devices and/or computing devices (e.g., servers).The machine readable instructions may require one or more ofinstallation, modification, adaptation, updating, combining,supplementing, configuring, decryption, decompression, unpacking,distribution, reassignment, etc. in order to make them directly readableand/or executable by a computing device and/or other machine. Forexample, the machine readable instructions may be stored in multipleparts, which are individually compressed, encrypted, and stored onseparate computing devices, wherein the parts when decrypted,decompressed, and combined form a set of executable instructions thatimplement a program such as that described herein. In another example,the machine readable instructions may be stored in a state in which theymay be read by a computer, but require addition of a library (e.g., adynamic link library (DLL)), a software development kit (SDK), anapplication programming interface (API), etc. in order to execute theinstructions on a particular computing device or other device. Inanother example, the machine readable instructions may need to beconfigured (e.g., settings stored, data input, network addressesrecorded, etc.) before the machine readable instructions and/or thecorresponding program(s) can be executed in whole or in part. Thus, thedisclosed machine readable instructions and/or corresponding program(s)are intended to encompass such machine readable instructions and/orprogram(s) regardless of the particular format or state of the machinereadable instructions and/or program(s) when stored or otherwise at restor in transit.

The machine readable instructions described herein can be represented byany past, present, or future instruction language, scripting language,programming language, etc. For example, the machine readableinstructions may be represented using any of the following languages: C,C++, Java, C#, Perl, Python, JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language(HTML), Structured Query Language (SQL), Swift, etc.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIG. 6 may be implementedusing executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readableinstructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machinereadable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-onlymemory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions 600 that may be executed to implement the resourceallocator 204 of FIGS. 2 and/or 3. In the instructions 600 of FIG. 6,the interface 302 of FIG. 3 determines whether the provisioning requestis available (block 610). For example, the interface 302 communicateswith the user device 202 of FIG. 2 to determine if the user has providedan initial provisioning request. If the provisioning request is notavailable, the resource allocator 204 continues to wait.

Alternatively, if a provisioning request is available (e.g., the controlof block 610 returns YES), then the request generator 304 generatesand/or otherwise creates the provisioning request (e.g., theprovisioning request 203) (block 615). In response, the interface 302determines whether an allocation flag is indicated (block 620). If anallocation flag is not available, then control proceeds to block 680.Alternatively, if an allocation flag is available, then the flagapplicator 306 inserts the allocation flag into the provisioning request(e.g., the allocation flag 205 and the provisioning request 203) (block630). In response, the interface 302 transmits the provisioning request(e.g., the provisioning request 203) to the cloud management platform206 (block 640).

The interface 302 determines whether an infrastructure response (e.g.,the infrastructure response 207) has been received (block 650). If theinfrastructure response (e.g., the infrastructure response 207) is notavailable, the resource allocator 204 continues to wait. Alternatively,if the infrastructure response (e.g., the infrastructure response 207)is available, then the request generator 304 applies the constraintsidentified in the infrastructure response (e.g., the infrastructureresponse 207) (block 660). Additionally, the flag applicator 306 removesthe allocation flag (e.g., the allocation flag 205) (block 670). Theinterface 302 then transmits the provisioning request to the cloudmanagement platform 206 (block 680).

In response to the control of block 680, the interface 302 determineswhether the provisioning response (e.g., the provisioning response 215)has been received (block 690). If the provisioning response (e.g., theprovisioning response 215) is not available, the resource allocator 204continues to wait. Alternatively, if the provisioning response (e.g.,the provisioning response 215) is available, then the allocationgenerator 204 determines whether to continue operating (block 695). Ifthe allocation generator 204 determines to continue operating, thencontrol returns to block 610. Alternatively, if the allocation generator204 determines not to continue operating, then the process stops. Forexample, during a loss of power event, a shut-off signal, etc., theallocation generator 204 may determine not to continue operating.

While an example manner of implementing the cloud management platform206 of FIG. 2 is illustrated in FIG. 4, one or more of the elements,processes and/or devices illustrated in FIG. 4 may be combined, divided,re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/or implemented in any other way.Further, the example user interface 402, the example request interpreter404, the example provision determiner 406, the example requestapplicator 408, the example cloud interface 410 and/or, more generally,the example cloud management platform 206 of FIG. 2 may be implementedby hardware, software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware,software and/or firmware. Thus, for example, any of the example userinterface 402, the example request interpreter 404, the exampleprovision determiner 406, the example request applicator 408, theexample cloud interface 410 and/or, more generally, the example cloudmanagement platform 206 could be implemented by one or more analog ordigital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s),programmable controller(s), graphics processing unit(s) (GPU(s)),digital signal processor(s) (DSP(s)), application specific integratedcircuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logic device(s) (PLD(s)) and/or fieldprogrammable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)). When reading any of theapparatus or system claims of this patent to cover a purely softwareand/or firmware implementation, at least one of the example userinterface 402, the example request interpreter 404, the exampleprovision determiner 406, the example request applicator 408, theexample cloud interface 410 is/are hereby expressly defined to include anon-transitory computer readable storage device or storage disk such asa memory, a digital versatile disk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-raydisk, etc. including the software and/or firmware. Further still, theexample cloud management platform 206 of FIG. 2 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIG. 4, and/or may include more than one of any or all ofthe illustrated elements, processes and devices. As used herein, thephrase “in communication,” including variations thereof, encompassesdirect communication and/or indirect communication through one or moreintermediary components, and does not require direct physical (e.g.,wired) communication and/or constant communication, but ratheradditionally includes selective communication at periodic intervals,scheduled intervals, aperiodic intervals, and/or one-time events.

A flowchart representative of example hardware logic, machine readableinstructions, hardware implemented state machines, and/or anycombination thereof for implementing the cloud management platform 206of FIG. 4 is shown in FIG. 7. The machine readable instructions may beone or more executable programs or portion(s) of an executable programfor execution by a computer processor such as the processor 912 shown inthe example processor platform 900 discussed below in connection withFIG. 9. The program may be embodied in software stored on anon-transitory computer readable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, afloppy disk, a hard drive, a DVD, a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associatedwith the processor 912, but the entire program and/or parts thereofcould alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor 912and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further, although theexample program is described with reference to the flowchart illustratedin FIG. 7, many other methods of implementing the example cloudmanagement platform 206 may alternatively be used. For example, theorder of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/or some of theblocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined. Additionallyor alternatively, any or all of the blocks may be implemented by one ormore hardware circuits (e.g., discrete and/or integrated analog and/ordigital circuitry, an FPGA, an ASIC, a comparator, anoperational-amplifier (op-amp), a logic circuit, etc.) structured toperform the corresponding operation without executing software orfirmware.

The machine readable instructions described herein may be stored in oneor more of a compressed format, an encrypted format, a fragmentedformat, a packaged format, etc. Machine readable instructions asdescribed herein may be stored as data (e.g., portions of instructions,code, representations of code, etc.) that may be utilized to create,manufacture, and/or produce machine executable instructions. Forexample, the machine readable instructions may be fragmented and storedon one or more storage devices and/or computing devices (e.g., servers).The machine readable instructions may require one or more ofinstallation, modification, adaptation, updating, combining,supplementing, configuring, decryption, decompression, unpacking,distribution, reassignment, etc. in order to make them directly readableand/or executable by a computing device and/or other machine. Forexample, the machine readable instructions may be stored in multipleparts, which are individually compressed, encrypted, and stored onseparate computing devices, wherein the parts when decrypted,decompressed, and combined form a set of executable instructions thatimplement a program such as that described herein. In another example,the machine readable instructions may be stored in a state in which theymay be read by a computer, but require addition of a library (e.g., adynamic link library (DLL)), a software development kit (SDK), anapplication programming interface (API), etc. in order to execute theinstructions on a particular computing device or other device. Inanother example, the machine readable instructions may need to beconfigured (e.g., settings stored, data input, network addressesrecorded, etc.) before the machine readable instructions and/or thecorresponding program(s) can be executed in whole or in part. Thus, thedisclosed machine readable instructions and/or corresponding program(s)are intended to encompass such machine readable instructions and/orprogram(s) regardless of the particular format or state of the machinereadable instructions and/or program(s) when stored or otherwise at restor in transit.

The machine readable instructions described herein can be represented byany past, present, or future instruction language, scripting language,programming language, etc. For example, the machine readableinstructions may be represented using any of the following languages: C,C++, Java, C#, Perl, Python, JavaScript, HyperText Markup Language(HTML), Structured Query Language (SQL), Swift, etc.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIG. 7 may be implementedusing executable instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readableinstructions) stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machinereadable medium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-onlymemory, a compact disk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, arandom-access memory and/or any other storage device or storage disk inwhich information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extended timeperiods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarily buffering,and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, the termnon-transitory computer readable medium is expressly defined to includeany type of computer readable storage device and/or storage disk and toexclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media.

“Including” and “comprising” (and all forms and tenses thereof) are usedherein to be open ended terms. Thus, whenever a claim employs any formof “include” or “comprise” (e.g., comprises, includes, comprising,including, having, etc.) as a preamble or within a claim recitation ofany kind, it is to be understood that additional elements, terms, etc.may be present without falling outside the scope of the correspondingclaim or recitation. As used herein, when the phrase “at least” is usedas the transition term in, for example, a preamble of a claim, it isopen-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” and “including”are open ended. The term “and/or” when used, for example, in a form suchas A, B, and/or C refers to any combination or subset of A, B, C such as(1) A alone, (2) B alone, (3) C alone, (4) A with B, (5) A with C, (6) Bwith C, and (7) A with B and with C. As used herein in the context ofdescribing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, thephrase “at least one of A and B” is intended to refer to implementationsincluding any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) atleast one A and at least one B. Similarly, as used herein in the contextof describing structures, components, items, objects and/or things, thephrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer to implementationsincluding any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B, and (3) atleast one A and at least one B. As used herein in the context ofdescribing the performance or execution of processes, instructions,actions, activities and/or steps, the phrase “at least one of A and B”is intended to refer to implementations including any of (1) at leastone A, (2) at least one B, and (3) at least one A and at least one B.Similarly, as used herein in the context of describing the performanceor execution of processes, instructions, actions, activities and/orsteps, the phrase “at least one of A or B” is intended to refer toimplementations including any of (1) at least one A, (2) at least one B,and (3) at least one A and at least one B.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart representative of example machine readableinstructions 700 that may be executed to implement the cloud managementplatform 206 of FIGS. 2 and/or 4. In FIG. 7, the user interface 402determines whether a provisioning request (e.g., the provisioningrequest 203) is available (block 710). If user interface 402 determinesthe provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203) is notavailable, then the cloud management platform 206 continues to wait.Alternatively, if the user interface 402 determines the provisioningrequest (e.g., the provisioning request 203) is available, then therequest interpreter 404 determines whether the provisioning request(e.g., the provisioning request 203) includes an allocation flag (e.g.,the allocation flag 205) (block 720). If the allocation flag (e.g., theallocation flag 205) is not identified by the request interpreter 404,then control proceeds to block 770. In some examples, if the allocationflag (e.g., the allocation flag 205) is not identified by the requestinterpreter 404, then the cloud management platform 206 and, morespecifically, the request applicator 408 may determine to set anallocation flag based on the extracted content of the provisioningrequest (e.g., the provisioning request 203). Further in such example,if the provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203) ismissing critical data (e.g., cloud resource specific constraints), thenthe request applicator 408 may insert an allocation flag.

If an allocation flag (e.g., the allocation flag 205) is identified bythe request interpreter 404, then provision determiner selects a cloudresource (or multiple cloud resources) of the cloud resources 208 a, 208b, 208 c (block 730). In response, the request applicator 408 transmitsan infrastructure response (e.g., the infrastructure response 207) tothe user device 202 (block 740). In response to, or concurrent with, thecloud interface 410 partially provisions (e.g., reserves and/orotherwise allocates) the selected cloud (e.g., transmits the resourcerequest 211) (block 750).

In doing so, the user device 202 determines whether a provisioningrequest (e.g., the provisioning request 203) has been received from theuser device 202 with constraints (block 760). If the user device 202determines a provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request 203)has not been received from the user device 202 with constraints, thenthe user device 202 continues to wait. Alternatively, if the user device202 determines a provisioning request (e.g., the provisioning request203) has been received from the user device 202 with constraints, thenthe cloud interface 410 fully provisions the cloud (block 770).Moreover, the cloud interface 410 determines whether a resource response(e.g., the resource response 213) has been received (block 780). If thecloud interface 410 determines a resource response (e.g., the resourceresponse 213) has not been received, then the cloud interface 410continues to wait. Alternatively, if the cloud interface 410 determinesa resource response (e.g., the resource response 213) has been received,then the user interface 402 transmits the response to the user device202 (e.g., transmits the provisioning response 215) (block 790).

The cloud management platform 206 determines whether to continueoperating (block 795). If the cloud management platform 206 determinesto continue operating, then control returns to block 710. Alternatively,if the cloud management platform 206 determines not to continueoperating, then the process stops. For example, during a loss of powerevent, a shut-off signal, etc., the cloud management platform 206 maydetermine not to continue operating.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 800structured to execute the instructions of FIG. 6 to implement theapplication generator 204 of FIG. 3. The processor platform 800 can be,for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, aself-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., acell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, or any other type ofcomputing device.

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 812. The processor 812 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 812 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, orcontrollers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardwareprocessor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. Inthis example, the processor implements the example interface 302, theexample request generator 304, and the example flag applicator 306.

The processor 812 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 813(e.g., a cache). The processor 812 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 814 and anon-volatile memory 816 via a bus 818. The volatile memory 814 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory(RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 816 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 814, 816is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 820. The interface circuit 820 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near fieldcommunication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 822 are connectedto the interface circuit 820. The input device(s) 822 permit(s) a userto enter data and/or commands into the processor 812. The inputdevice(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, amicrophone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, atouchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more output devices 824 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 820 of the illustrated example. The output devices 824 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching(IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printerand/or speaker. The interface circuit 820 of the illustrated example,thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chipand/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 820 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a networkinterface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g.,computing devices of any kind) via a network 826. The communication canbe via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line(DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, asatellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephonesystem, etc.

The processor platform 800 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 828 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 828 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundantarray of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk(DVD) drives.

The machine executable instructions 832 of FIG. 6 may be stored in themass storage device 828, in the volatile memory 814, in the non-volatilememory 816, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readablestorage medium such as a CD or DVD.

FIG. 9 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 900structured to execute the instructions of FIG. 7 to implement the cloudmanagement platform 206 of FIG. 4. The processor platform 900 can be,for example, a server, a personal computer, a workstation, aself-learning machine (e.g., a neural network), a mobile device (e.g., acell phone, a smart phone, a tablet such as an iPad™), a personaldigital assistant (PDA), an Internet appliance, or any other type ofcomputing device.

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example includes aprocessor 912. The processor 912 of the illustrated example is hardware.For example, the processor 912 can be implemented by one or moreintegrated circuits, logic circuits, microprocessors, GPUs, DSPs, orcontrollers from any desired family or manufacturer. The hardwareprocessor may be a semiconductor based (e.g., silicon based) device. Inthis example, the processor implements the example user interface 402,the example request interpreter 404, the example provision determiner406, the example request applicator 408, and the example cloud interface410.

The processor 912 of the illustrated example includes a local memory 913(e.g., a cache). The processor 912 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 914 and anon-volatile memory 916 via a bus 918. The volatile memory 914 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS® Dynamic Random Access Memory(RDRAM®) and/or any other type of random access memory device. Thenon-volatile memory 916 may be implemented by flash memory and/or anyother desired type of memory device. Access to the main memory 914, 916is controlled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 920. The interface circuit 920 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), a Bluetooth® interface, a near fieldcommunication (NFC) interface, and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 922 are connectedto the interface circuit 920. The input device(s) 922 permit(s) a userto enter data and/or commands into the processor 912. The inputdevice(s) can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, amicrophone, a camera (still or video), a keyboard, a button, a mouse, atouchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball, isopoint and/or a voicerecognition system.

One or more output devices 924 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 920 of the illustrated example. The output devices 924 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay (LCD), a cathode ray tube display (CRT), an in-place switching(IPS) display, a touchscreen, etc.), a tactile output device, a printerand/or speaker. The interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example,thus, typically includes a graphics driver card, a graphics driver chipand/or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 920 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem, a residential gateway, a wireless access point, and/or a networkinterface to facilitate exchange of data with external machines (e.g.,computing devices of any kind) via a network 926. The communication canbe via, for example, an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line(DSL) connection, a telephone line connection, a coaxial cable system, asatellite system, a line-of-site wireless system, a cellular telephonesystem, etc.

The processor platform 900 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 928 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 928 include floppy disk drives,hard drive disks, compact disk drives, Blu-ray disk drives, redundantarray of independent disks (RAID) systems, and digital versatile disk(DVD) drives.

The machine executable instructions 932 of FIG. 7 may be stored in themass storage device 928, in the volatile memory 914, in the non-volatilememory 916, and/or on a removable non-transitory computer readablestorage medium such as a CD or DVD.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that example methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture have been disclosed that allow auser to provision a cloud resource and/or virtual machine withoutknowing which cloud resource and/or virtual machine is to beprovisioned. For example, in a cloud agnostic system, the user does notknow, nor do they prefer, a specific cloud resource (e.g., Amazon AWScloud, Microsoft Azure, etc.). As such, the disclosed method, apparatusand articles of manufacture partially provision the selected cloudresource in a cloud agnostic system to reduce the amount of failed cloudresource provisions. The disclosed methods, apparatus and articles ofmanufacture improve the efficiency of using a computing device byallowing a user to flag a provisioning request as allocation only,thereby enabling a cloud agnostic system to operate with a reducedfailure rate. By flagging a provisioning request as allocation only, themethods, apparatus and articles of manufacture disclosed herein candetermine and reserve a selected cloud resource before fullyprovisioning the selected cloud resource. This reduces the provisioningfailures in a cloud agnostic system when because the cloud specificconstraints can be included at a later time. Once the selected cloudresource is determined, a user can indicate the specific constraints tofully provision the selected cloud resource. The disclosed methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture are accordingly directed to one ormore improvement(s) in the functioning of a computer.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus comprising: at least one memory;instructions in the apparatus; and processor circuitry to execute theinstructions to: generate a blueprint including components of requestedcloud resources and their relationships; provide an allocation flag tothe blueprint, the allocation flag indicating the requested cloudresources are to be partially provisioned; transmit a first provisioningrequest to a cloud management platform, the cloud management platform tomanage a plurality of cloud resources; and in response to the cloudmanagement platform selecting cloud resources, transmit a secondprovisioning request to fully provision the selected cloud resources,the second provisioning request including constraints specific to theselected cloud resources.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theblueprint includes constraints specific to the requested cloudresources.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the components ofrequested cloud resources include at least one of a memory allocationsize, a number of central processing units, and a desired cost.
 4. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the first provisioning request is platformagnostic and the second provisioning request is platform specific. 5.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processor circuitry is to executethe instructions to generate a notification via a user interface inresponse to receiving an indication the first provisioning request wasunsuccessful.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processorcircuitry is to execute the instructions to provide the allocation flagwhen the first provisioning request is incomplete.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the processor circuitry is to execute the instructionsto provide an application programming interface (API) to edit parametersof the blueprint.
 8. A non-transitory computer readable mediumcomprising instructions that, when executed, cause processor circuitryto at least: generate a blueprint including components of requestedcloud resources and their relationships; provide an allocation flag tothe blueprint, the allocation flag indicating the requested cloudresources are to be partially provisioned; transmit a first provisioningrequest to a cloud management platform, the cloud management platform tomanage a plurality of cloud resources; and in response to the cloudmanagement platform selecting cloud resources, transmit a secondprovisioning request to fully provision the selected cloud resources,the second provisioning request including constraints specific to theselected cloud resources.
 9. The non-transitory computer readable mediumof claim 8, wherein the blueprint includes constraints specific to therequested cloud resources.
 10. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 8, wherein the components of requested cloud resourcesinclude at least one of a memory allocation size, a number of centralprocessing units, and a desired cost.
 11. The non-transitory computerreadable medium of claim 8, wherein the first provisioning request isplatform agnostic and the second provisioning request is platformspecific.
 12. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8,wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the processor circuitryto generate a notification via a user interface in response to receivingan indication the first provisioning request was unsuccessful.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions, when executed, cause the processor circuitry to providethe allocation flag when the first provisioning request is incomplete.14. The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 8, wherein theinstructions, when executed, cause the processor circuitry to provide anapplication programming interface (API) to edit parameters of theblueprint.
 15. A method comprising: generating, by executing aninstruction with a processor, a blueprint including components ofrequested cloud resources and their relationships; providing, byexecuting an instruction with the processor, an allocation flag to theblueprint, the allocation flag indicating the requested cloud resourcesare to be partially provisioned; transmitting, by executing aninstruction with the processor, a first provisioning request to a cloudmanagement platform, the cloud management platform to manage a pluralityof cloud resources; and transmitting, by executing an instruction withthe processor, a second provisioning request to fully provision theselected cloud resources in response to the cloud management platformselecting cloud resources, the second provisioning request includingconstraints specific to the selected cloud resources.
 16. The method ofclaim 15, wherein the blueprint includes constraints specific to therequested cloud resources.
 17. The method of claim 15, wherein thecomponents of requested cloud resources include at least one of a memoryallocation size, a number of central processing units, and a desiredcost.
 18. The method of claim 15, further including generating anotification via a user interface in response to receiving an indicationthe first provisioning request was unsuccessful.
 19. The method of claim15, further including providing the allocation flag when the firstprovisioning request is incomplete.
 20. The method of claim 15, whereinthe first provisioning request is platform agnostic and the secondprovisioning request is platform specific.
 21. The method of claim 15,further including providing an application programming interface (API)to edit parameters of the blueprint.